Anybody own a Prius

[BOSSHOG]

We did a little window shopping Sunday. That's a fine looking, well equipped car. Would like to know about power (merging onto interstates, maintenance, price of batteries.) Thanks for any info.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. I know at least a few DUers have one, so I will help keep this kicked

:)

[Rainscents]

2. I am thinking of buying one of those and also would like to know more

about it. My understanding, battery has warranty for 8 years or 100,000 miles.

[Deep13]

3. Nope, Honda Civic Hybrid.

The huge reserve of energy in the form of electric batteries means it has no problems with acceleration or climbing hills.

[unhappycamper]

4. You might want to post this in the Environment/Energy forum, as well.

I've been thinking about a hybrid, but could not get an acceptable payback period unless gas hits $6/gal. Did you see the latest Consumer's Reports? They had an analysis on hybrids that confirmed my workup.

I suspect I'll get a Civic & call it a day. :shrug:

[endarkenment]

5. I have a friend at work who bought one recently

and she loves it. I've been in it a couple of times and the car is comfortable and roomy and well equipped. It seems to have ample power for a car of its class. She reports that in high wind highway driving, due to its weight, you do find yourself getting blown around a bit. That is the only negative. Oh and she drained the standard engine battery once and it was a bit of a puzzle how to jump the thing. Toyota had to be called to answer that one.

[mod mom]

6. Mine is scheduled to be delivered 4/15!

Testing driving was fine (and I currently drive a Saab turbo). Can't wait...though I'll miss all my bumperstickers (don't worry they are going to a good cause-getting donated with the car to our local NPR station!)

[sojourner]

7. A good friend owns one (for last couple of years)...

I got to drive it to Las Vegas last spring. Great vehicle as far as power is concerned IMO. I was actually surprised at how quickly it accelerated when merging into traffic, also pulled the hills fine. And it's quiet...almost too quiet for a person accustomed to an engine humming in the background.

Edited to add: Of course this is just one opinion. I was driving a Honda Accord at the time, and before that, a VW Jetta TDI. Both with ample power, and these are my points of comparison. I may have had lowered expectations because of the vehicle class...so being impressed may just mean I didn't expect it to perform as well as it did.

[lebkuchen]

8. I hear it comes with a great tax rebate, at least in CA

A friend received a $2,300 rebate, for buying a hybrid, I'm told.

[mod mom]

9. The rebate is best described in the latest consumer report. It is federal

and varies among different hybrids based on mileage. Prius gets the highest (estimated $3,150) to the first 68,000 (I believe that is the correct #) purchased this year. Dealer said that there are no guarantees but they feel those purchased in the first quarter will still be eligible.

[lebkuchen]

15. My friend has a Prius

[hatrack]

10. I've had version 1.0 since July 2001 - Great car!

Approaching 53,000 miles, and only two small-to-middling glitches since purchase, both fixed by Toyota at no cost.

Just a touch more legroom would be nice (I'm 6'3") but not a great big deal. Besides, since you're looking at the new version, no worries there.

[Dem Agog]

11. We love ours!

Maintenance is very low, just standard oil changes, etc.

There are no "batteries" to buy outside the car. It has one battery that is powered by the gas motor and recharged that way. (The car isn't just battery powered, and you don't "plug it in" ... some people think you do). The batteries are warrantied for something like 100,000 miles but tests show they are fine even longer than that in most cases.

It has plenty of power, but you should take one for a test drive and see for yourself.

My husband and I carpool in our Prius, and average 48-50 miles per gallon. We fill up at a cost of about $20 every two weeks or so. Consumer Reports & other companies like to say you don't save money with a Prius, but we have cut our commute mileage so much by carpooling and buying the Prius that we're definitely saving a few thousand a year in gas.

[atommom]

12. We have one, and it's a great car.

It has more power (for acceleration) than we expected, and we average about 50 mpg. It handles well in snow and ice, too. And the inside is well laid-out, with nice "toys" like GPS and a real-time display of your mpg. (My husband is a little too fond of the mpg feature, and likes to keep me informed about the milage and the degree of battery charge when he's driving. ;) )

[Rainscents]

25. Your hubby sounds like fun guy!

:-)

[Beaverhausen]

13. I have a 2005 - love it

It is plenty powerful although if you are like most drivers you will start driving in such a way as to achieve maximum miles per gallon - i.e. like an old person.

The only maintence I've had is an oil change.

Batteries are covered by warranty (the number of years depends on what warranty you get) but supposedly last 7-10 years.

Here is a link to thread about Consumer Reports amending their finding about the cost effectiveness of hybrids:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x45916

I get a little extra money every quarter from my employer under their "environmental initiatives" program" as well as the nice tax break.

Hope you get one...they are great!

[onenote]

14. wife just got one a month ago -- loves it

[ingac70]

16. I hear they don't get near the gas mileage claimed....

http://www.idealog.us/2004/05/why_your_toyota.html

[BOSSHOG]

17. THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH FOR ALL THE GREAT INFORMATION

[Johonny]

18. I love mine

I get 36-39 MPG in city and 48-50 MPG on the highway. It's a bit underpowered, but not more so than a normal car of it's class. There are two batteries. It has a normal car battery that indeed fails as often as any normal car battery. The larger battery for the hybrid side has a 8 year warranty. Information on it's failure rate is sketchy. Mostly due to lack of failures to get a good database. The biggest glich with the car comes from non-use. The car does not like to be left for long bouts of time. If you take a 2-3 weeks vacation your car may likely need a jump when you get home. This can be annoying. It's the best car I've own maintance wise. Which is a surprise given the technology involved.

[in_cog_ni_to]

19. Here's some info. I have been shopping for a fuel efficient car and Prius

was my choice until I heard the cost of a battery replacement. I know they're warranted for 100,000 miles, but mine would die at 101,000 miles and I really can't afford dishing out $3000 for a battery in the future and really don't want to. :) I LOVE the Prius! It's such a cool car. I also liked the fact it had Bluetooth technology and a navigation system and I think the guy at Toyota told me satellite radio could be installed, but I also think he said they sold Sirius. I want XM :(. I'm still thinking on the Prius. The battery price concerns me.

Just TODAY I was surfing the net for fuel efficient cars and found my next favorite! It's the new Nissan "Versa" due out this summer (for the 2007 new cars). It gets 38 MPG which is pretty darn good! It's a hatchback, has room to haul stuff (which I need) and has SATELLITE RADIO!! (XM in my car..:loveya:) and bluetooth technology, BUT didn't have navigation as an option :(...I NEED navigation. My sense of direction is just SAD.:( The car is very cute! I also saw the new Honda "FIT" due out this year sometime too. It's also very cute! I was also thinking about the Toyota Matrix, but they didn't offer the options I want. Prius or the Versa will be what I choose between probably. I also looked at the VW Golf and Passat station wagons...I like them too, but didn't have the options I want on a used one. The Prius and Versa are more my price range. The Versa starts at $12,000! and LOADED was $18,000! Woohoo! AND, Toyota is coming out with the new "Yaris" this year...starting price $10,000!!!! I saw that price and couldn't believe it. The Yaris will get 40 MPG, but didn't have the options I want...it's a VERY CUTE CAR!



Here's some info on the Hybrid batteries:

Although no one can predict exactly how long the hybrid batteries will last, the manufacturers stand behind their products. For example, on hybrid components, Honda provides a 8 year/80,000 mile warranty; Toyota provides an 8 year/100,000 mile warranty. and don't forget, just beacause the waraanty has expired doesn't mean the battery will immediately fail. There are plenty of hybrids that have gone beyond the warranty period without a falure.
Although I have read anecdotes of Honda hybrid batteries failing in the manual transmission Honda Insights, Honda has often gone out of its way to provide "goodwill" coverage for at least a portion of the cost of new hybrid batteries.

http://hybridcars.about.com/od/hybridcarfaq/f/batterieslast.htm

To purchase a brand new hybrid battery from a dealer, the price for a Honda Insight Hybrid battery is around $3600.

In November of 2005, when asked about the price of a new Prius battery, Toyota spokeswoman Mona Richard said, "The service parts price for a new battery is $3000, but we have not had to sell a battery yet."

As one would expect, there are starting to be sources for used hybrid batteries which can be purchased for considerably less.

That last sentence is encouraging and why I keep thinking about the Prius! The price of the batteries cannot remain as expensive as they are. Competition will lower the price, eventually. Maybe by the time MY car would need one?;)

http://hybridcars.about.com/od/hybridcarfaq/f/batterycost.htm

[BOSSHOG]

20. Thanks very much for the great information

I'm keeping my old beat up truck but my wife is shopping around a little bit. She has a RAV4 which is a fine auto but she wants a car.

[in_cog_ni_to]

22. You're welcome! I would buy the Prius in a heartbeat if it wasn't for

the battery price. I may talk myself into it yet. ;) Does your wife want a Hybrid? or just a fuel efficient car? As I said in my other post, there's some BARGAIN cars coming out this summer if she's willing to wait and they get GREAT gas mileage. :)

[BOSSHOG]

23. Battery Price has to be an issue

When my wife is looking I kind of get out of the way. I don't like t throw too many two cents worth in her decision making but gas mileage is definitely a priority for both of us. The RAV4 gets a solid 33 mpg day in and day out but she wants a car. So I'll just accompany her to the lots to look good and sign any papers she comes up with. Good luck in your search.

I'm not in the market but I do like the Chevy HHR. If I had more money than sense I'd have one right now.

[in_cog_ni_to]

24. I was just looking at that online yesterday! VERY cool car!

:thumbsup: Do you remember the gas mileage on that? I think it was around 36? Yeah, I loved that car too. I'll have to price it out with all the options sometime. Do you have any idea what it costs with all the bells and whistles? If I recall, they also had XM satellite radio!:thumbsup: That's a plus, In my book.:)

[MurrayDelph]

26. Battery price is the reason

we only have one hybrid instead of two. I have owned my Prius (Classic edition) for a month short
of four years,and we take a lot of driving vacations, so I have already put over 82k miles on it.
About a year-and-a-half ago, there was a recall on batteries, and they replaced mine. About three
months ago, there was a vacuum leak in the gas tank (which they replaced for free).

But we are still waiting for the full life-cycle of the car before we get two of them. So, two
years ago, when my wife needed a new car, we got a non-hybrid Civic.

If something happened to my Prius, would I buy another one? You bet.

[Renew Deal]

21. I got one.

It's impressive. Once the gas engine runs, the car runs smooth. Since the gas kicks in at 9mph, you should have no problem on an interstate. I have taken the car up to some high speeds and been pleased.

you might want to ask at www.priuschat.com

[EOTE]

27. I've driven one.

Very nice car. Certainly not a driver's car, but if you're looking for sensible, reliable and responsible transportation, it's for you. As you say, well equipped and very ergonomic. Passing power is adequate due to the electric assist. One great property of electric motors is the fact that their torque curve is completely linear. I.E., they produce the same amount of torque at 1 rpm that they do at redline. This means that acceleration is instantaneous making for a very responsive driving experience. Overall, a good buy.